Blue America: A Donna Edwards (MD-4) Update

You may remember Donna Edwards, candidate for the House of Representives from Maryland’s Fourth District, from Howie’s initial introduction of her in Blue America back in June. Since that initial intro, Howie has done a couple of updates on Donna’s campaign here, here and here.

I got to meet Donna briefly at the Take Back America Conference in DC earlier in the summer, and she was both impressive and enthusiastic about her campaign. And that smile is truly amazing in person — I liked her on the spot.

Which is why I am happy to announce that Donna has secured the endorsement of the WaPo’s editorial board in her race against incumbant Albert Wynn.

The 4th District, comprising parts of Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, is heavily Democratic, a profile that meshes with Ms. Edwards’s long involvement in liberal causes. She has championed a higher minimum wage, campaign finance reform and an array of environmental issues, and she fought for legislation to curtail domestic violence. Locally, she was an ardent opponent of National Harbor, the multibillion-dollar development underway in Prince George’s, but she came around to supporting it when she was satisfied that it would include a balance of commercial, entertainment and residential components. Her assent removed one of the project’s last major hurdles — a fact that testifies both to her skill as an advocate and her openness to reasonable compromise….

No wonder. As we’ve noted in the past, Mr. Wynn has often seemed more involved in playing the role of a kingmaker in Prince George’s than in his duties in Congress. On key federal issues, he has cast himself as the most bipartisan member of Maryland’s congressional delegation. That’s great in theory, but too often his votes have been at odds with good government and the interests of his constituents. He has backed the estate tax repeal, a measure that benefits the richest Americans at the expense of the poor and middle class. He supported the Bush administration’s energy bill in 2003, offering subsidies to oil and gas companies even as they were headed toward record profits. He has flip-flopped on fuel efficiency standards and opposed campaign finance reform. And he has tried to clear the way for casino gambling in Prince George’s. All in all, it is a lackluster record.

On the war in Iraq, Ms. Edwards has scored points by attacking Mr. Wynn as Maryland’s Joseph I. Lieberman — a supporter of the war portrayed as too close to the Bush administration. Mr. Wynn backed the war at the outset, but he has since recanted, saying he was misled by bad intelligence. More to the point of today’s debate, both candidates are calling for a U.S. withdrawal, a scenario that we believe would leave chaos in its wake.

Mr. Wynn insists he has been a successful pork-barrel politician; we suspect Ms. Edwards, razor-sharp and relentless, would be at least as effective. We disagree with her on some important issues, but we are convinced she would be the more forceful, principled and effective representative. And while her insurgent candidacy is an uphill battle, it should put Mr. Wynn on notice that voters expect quality representation in Congress, not just a local political boss.

If you can, please consider giving a little more to Donna Edwards’ campaign. You can do so here at our Blue America page. Donna is doing a fundraising push right now to be able to contact more voters in her district through direct mail, television and radio buys — so every little bit can truly make a huge difference for Donna’s campaign in this last push toward the primary.

Howie has a fantastic Blue America chat coming up with Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina at 5:30 pm ET/2:30 pm PT, so much more Blue America to come today. This is fast becoming my favorite thing that we do here at FDL — and I just wanted to thank everyone for all their support and work on behalf of progressive candidates all over the country. It’s amazing what a little hard work can do, isn’t it? (And a HUGE thank you to Howie for all of his amazing hard work on all of this. Kudos, Howie!)

Christy Hardin Smith

Christy is a "recovering" attorney, who earned her undergraduate degree at Smith College, in American Studies and Government, concentrating in American Foreign Policy. She then went on to graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania in the field of political science and international relations/security studies, before attending law school at the College of Law at West Virginia University, where she was Associate Editor of the Law Review. Christy was a partner in her own firm for several years, where she practiced in a number of areas including criminal defense, child abuse and neglect representation, domestic law, civil litigation, and she was an attorney for a small municipality, before switching hats to become a state prosecutor. Christy has extensive trial experience, and has worked for years both in and out of the court system to improve the lives of at risk children.